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Blood Guild
“Now be a nice gent and come here and bleed on this warrant for me, eh? Then I’ll make it quick for ye, otherwise I’ll get a bit put out, and well... I hate swabbing the floor and getting nice parchment dirty. Seems so... undignified like.” — Auric Kenge, Chartered Bloodsworn The Blood Guild of Malfi is one of the most infamous organizations of bounty hunters and man-trackers in the whole sector. It owes its origins to some long forgotten internecine war in Malfi’s history of vendetta and civil infighting---a history that far predates Malfi’s “liberation” during the Angevin Crusade. The Blood Guild has long served to track down, apprehend or slaughter fugitives whose warrants have been issued by the Malfian Senate. The members of the guild, the Bloodsworn as they are called, are professionals, the best it is said that money can buy at their craft, and drafted from the ranks of hardened ex-guardsmen, disgraced Arbites, outcast armsmen from the noble houses and all manner of killers and gunfighters come up from the underhive the hard way. This broad church operates only one rule---a warrant must be carried out scrupulously, but it doesn’t matter what methods are used. The Bloodsworn owe little loyalty to each other either. Indeed several guild members might seek to execute the same lucrative warrant, and such often lethal “competition” is actively encouraged in the guild as a means of weeding out those not up to the standards of the guild’s reputation---not that simple attrition doesn’t take care of this anyway. Most blood warrants are aptly named, issued in the form of a tough parchment scroll bearing the seal of the authorizing body and carrying within it a gene-lock circuit amulet designed to identify the victim by their blood when spilled over it. The execution of these warrants requires the subject’s termination, or, more rarely, his capture for trial. Some warrants may add further gruesome specifics to the discharge notice. The returning of the bloodstained warrant results in payment drawn on Malfi’s own Obsidian Chancellery. Falsifying such a warrant in some way is a dire matter indeed, and immediately results in a blood-price of truly staggering proportions being placed on the head of the malefactor by the guild. As a part of Malfi’s often impenetrable legal code and endemic culture of vendetta, a holder of a Bloodsworn Charter has certain rights above that of a mere common hired gun. The warrant enables them to bear arms in the hive where others would not, access to legal record, enter private dwellings, and even avoid interference (largely) from local enforcers and armsmen in pursuit of their warrants. These powers have their limits, however, and any Bloodsworn had better be wary of just who’s property they trample on or in whose territory they operate unless they wish to find an abrupt and bloody end. Nor do their customary rights extend to the holdings or persons of the Adepta or Malfi’s rulers, not that many would be so foolish. Once confined to the continent spanning hives of Malfi, the Bloodsworn are recognized across the Malfian sub-sector and, for the right price, there is nowhere the Bloodsworn won’t track down their prey regardless, a fact that has spread their infamy across the sector and beyond. The Bloodsworn are afforded a fearful respect throughout the Calixis Sector, and quite aside from their quasi-legal role as bounty hunters, many also turn their hands to assassination, bodyguard and mercenary work if the chance arises, relying on their skills and reputation to set a high price for their services. Many Inquisitors are not above hiring members of the Bloodsworn into their own service for obvious reasons, and some even back their Acolytes to become Bloodsworn to take advantage of the cover it can provide during their covert operations, to say nothing of the contacts and even revenue gained. 'Alternate Career Rank' Becoming part of the Blood Guild is deceptively simple: the candidates must make their way to one of the guild’s charter houses on the worlds of the Malfian sub-sector, offer payment of a thousand Throne gelt, and, as long as they themselves are not under subject to warrant and are not subject to ”higher oath”, they are given a “grey warrant” to execute. Grey warrants are those that have languished uncollected on the charter house’s books for some time, usually because the money offered doesn’t merit the danger involved in the collection. To become Bloodsworn, all they need to is successfully claim the warrant by any means necessary (which can include the help of others and might form a small adventure for the Player Characters). Once successful, the candidate must then swear a blood oath to abide by the guild’s rule. The candidate is given a guild symbol as credential and is entered on the charter list. They may then claim the right to the title of “Bloodsworn” and execute lawful warrants as long as they survive to do so. Required Career: Assassin or Scum, and Guardsmen or Arbitrators who are no longer in overt Imperial service. Alternate Rank: 5 or higher (3,000 XP) Other Requirements: Must gain a charter from the Blood Guild of Malfi. Special: Upon successfully entering this career path, the character gains a Bloodsworn Charter and the privileges and rights 9outlined in the Alternate Rank description.